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Echt Brecht? ‘Mother Courage‘at the Citizens,1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Margaret Eddershaw
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Abstract

The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow has a long and honourable tradition of serving its neighbourhood and its city, and a directorial team which remarkably combines professional distinction with loyalty to their theatre. In view of its reputation for productions of great visual brilliance, it is surprising to be reminded that, of all British repertory theatres, ‘national’ or regional, it has also the strongest continuous tradition of playing Brecht. Margaret Eddershaw, Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies in the University of Lancaster, outlines the history of this tradition, which stretches back even beyond the present triumviral management, and proceeds to look at the most recent encounter of ‘the Cits’ with Brecht, Philip Prowse's 1990 production of Mother Courage. This was significant not only for the director's attitude to Brechtian theory, theatrical and political, in the aftermath of the previous year's events in Eastern Europe, but for its inclusion of an international ‘star’, Glenda Jackson, within the Cits' usually close-knit ensemble – its consequences also, arguably, of ‘political’ as well as theatrical interest.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 7 , Issue 28 , November 1991 , pp. 303 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

Notes and References

1. The Guardian, 24 April 1990.

2. All quotes by Philip Prowse and Glenda Jackson are taken from conversations and interviews during the rehearsals and early performances of Mother Courage at the Citizens Theatre.

3. All quotes and information from Oliver, Cordelia are drawn from her lecture, ‘Brecht at the Citizens Theatre’, Goethe Institut, 12 05 1990.Google Scholar

4. The Scotsman and Daily Mail, both 23 October 1962.

5. Note in the Citizens Theatre programme for Mother Courage, 1970.

6. The Times and The Guardian, both 9 September 1964.

7. Glasgow Herald, 9 September 1964.

8. Billington, Michael, The Modern Actor, 1973, p. 74.Google Scholar

9. McMillan, Joyce, The Guardian, 30 08 1984.Google Scholar

10. All quotes by Giles Havergal are taken from an interview with Margaret Eddershaw on 2 May 1990, unless otherwise stated.

11. The Scotsman, 26 October 1970.

12. Glasgow Herald, 20 September 1971.

13. The Scotsman and Glasgow News, both 17 April 1972; BBC Radio 4, 18 April 1972.

14. Financial Times, 29 September 1976.

15. The Scotsman, 29 September 1976.

16. The Times, 2 October 1978.

17. Sunday Mail, 20 January 1980.

18. The Scotsman and Financial Times, both 6 October 1980.

19. Havergal, Giles, ‘J. F. Arnott Memorial Lecture’, Tenth World Congress of the International Federation for Theatre Research, 09 1985.Google Scholar

20. Joyce McMillan, op. cit.

21. Billington, Michael, The Guardian, 7 05 1990.Google Scholar

22. Peter, John, Sunday Times, 6 05 1990.Google Scholar

23. The Observer, 13 May 1990.

24. The Guardian, 22 May 1990.